NRI billionaire L N Mittal-led ArcelorMittal has paid Rs 600 crore to the Karnataka government for land in Bellary, state Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa said in New Delhi on Saturday.
“ArcelorMittal’s plant is to come up in Bellary. It has given us Rs 600 crore for land,” Yeddyurappa told reporters in New Delhi after the meeting of the National Development Council, the highest policy making body comprising Chief Ministers and the Planning Commission.
The world’s largest steel maker had last month entered into a pact with the Karnataka government to set up a Rs 30,000-crore plant and expressed hope that the progress on the project would be faster than that at its plants in Jharkhand and Orissa.
Mittal had entered into an initial agreement with Karnataka government to set up an estimated six million tonnes steel plant and got about 4,000 acres of land in the iron ore rich belt.
The company has been struggling to launch its proposed Rs 1 lakh crore steel project in Orissa and Jharkhand (12mpta each) for about five years now. The project has been stuck due to regulatory hurdles and problems in land acquisition.
The world’s largest steel maker is now looking for an alternative site in Jharkhand while going slow on its proposed project in Orissa.